Triterpene saponin hemi-biosynthesis of a leaf beetle’s (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Platyphora kollari</Emphasis>) defensive secretion

The adults of the leaf beetle Platyphora kollari (Chrysomelidae) are able to metabolise the oleanane triterpene β-amyrin (1) into the glycoside 3-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-β-d-glucuronopyranosyl-hederagenin (2) that is stored in their defensive glands. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that oleanolic acid (3) is an intermediate in the conversion of 1 into 2 and to check whether the sequestration of pentacyclic triterpenes is selective in favour of β-amyrin (1). To this end, adults of P. kollari were fed with Ipomoea batatas leaf disks painted with a solution of [2,2,3-²H₃]oleanolic acid or [2,2,3-²H₃]α-amyrin and the secretion of their defensive glands analysed by HPLC–ESIMS. The data presented in this work indicated that the first step of the transformation of β-amyrin (1) into the sequestered glycoside 2 is its oxidation into oleanolic acid (3) and that this conversion is selective but not specific in favour of β-amyrin (1).     

Time allocation between work and recreation and the associated injury risks among young people

PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between overall risk of injury and time use patterns between work and active recreation among adolescents and young adults. METHODS: Using a representative sample of 9,795 Canadians aged 15-24 years, a multivariate logistic regression on the likelihood of any medically attended injury was conducted, including sociodemographic, individual, and time factors. RESULTS: Young people who engaged in a combination of high work and high activity hours were twice as likely to sustain a medically attended injury compared to those who worked low hours, but did not participate in any recreational activity. Those respondents who were not in school had a 43% increase in injury risk compared to full-time students. SUMMARY: Our findings suggest that injury risk was not a simple function of fatigue and cumulative exposure time. Our findings suggest the importance of considering time use and the associated injury risk tradeoffs. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Relevant to state and federal work safety policy makers, our findings suggest the importance of understanding where youth might otherwise spend their time if constraint were placed on their employment opportunities, and the associated injury risk tradeoffs must be taken into consideration.     

Male satin bowerbirds (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ptilonorhynchus violaceus</Emphasis>) compensate for sexual signal loss by enhancing multiple display features

Numerous studies have focussed on the relationship between female choice and the multiple exaggerated sexual traits of males. However, little is known about the ability of males to actively enhance specific components of their display in response to the loss of one component. We investigated the capacity of male satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) to respond to the loss of one of their sexual signals by performing an experiment in which we removed decorations at their bowers. We found that males compensated for decoration loss by increasing bower construction behaviour and decreasing their latency to bower painting. These results are novel because they suggest that males can assess the quality of their own display and make decisions about how to augment their displays. We discuss these results in the context of previous studies of mate choice in satin bowerbirds, as both of the supplementary behaviours we observed are known correlates of male mating success.     

Improving graduated driver licensing systems: a conceptual approach and its implications

Graduated driver licensing (GDL) is a concept for how to transform non-drivers into reasonably safe drivers while minimizing the risks as they learn. Several state GDL programs can be improved by moving their structures closer to an adequate implementation of that concept. The learner stage of a GDL system needs to be long enough for beginners to obtain a thorough introduction to the vagaries of driving. The second or intermediate stage needs to effectively limit exposure to known high risk conditions as novices adapt to being fully in charge of the vehicle. The benefits of GDL to date are due almost entirely to the risk-reducing conditions it implements. To improve the functioning of GDL will probably require a better understanding of teen driving than we presently have. The likelihood of further gains will be enhanced by efforts to learn more about the actual causes of teen crashes, the nature and type of teen driver exposures, and what parents do with their teens during the supervised driving stage of GDL. Without a better understanding of these, and other, phenomena it will be difficult to further reduce crashes among young beginning drivers, whether through GDL enhancements or with other approaches.     

阻止杭州湾海底输油管线穿孔、溢油的设想

对海底管线穿孔后如何阻止溢油、减少海上.油污染,提出了采用负压保护的可行性方案.     

浅析电子废弃物回收利用及危害解决办法

随着高科技的发展和人们需求的增长,电子产品不断推陈出新,电子废弃物成为世界上数量增长最快的垃圾."电子垃圾",主要包括各种使用后废弃的电脑、通信设备、电视机、电冰箱、洗衣机等电子电器产品.电子废弃物不规范回收处理易造成污染.电子废弃物中含有很多可回收再利用的有色金属、黑色金属、玻璃等物质.严格意义上讲,这些电子废弃物,不应称其为电子垃圾,而应称作电子旧货.伴随着电子工业的高速发展,电子废弃物污染不可避免地摆在了我们面前.电子废弃物具有危害性和可利用性.     

Impact on sward composition and stock performance of grazing Molinia-dominant grassland

A comparative experiment was conducted to test the extent to which grazing of rank Molinia caerulea-dominated grassland increases botanical diversity and improves animal performance. The study was carried out on an area of under-grazed Molinia-dominant pasture that had not been stocked for 20 years. Three treatments were compared from 2001 until 2008: (1) no grazing, (2) grazing by Welsh Mountain sheep and (3) grazing by Welsh Black heifers. Patterns of change in sward surface composition across the grazing season were consistent with greater consumption of Molinia by the cattle, but there was little evidence of management regime influencing changes in sward composition year-on-year. There was a significant effect of year on animal performance (P < 0.001). Although the growth rates of the heifers improved over the course of the first three years of the experiment, this performance was not sustained. In contrast, any weight changes for the sheep were positive. The results highlight the slow pace of change within upland swards, and the need to develop site-specific grazing guidelines.     

Application of winery and distillery waste composts to a Jumilla (SE Spain) vineyard: Effects on the characteristics of a calcareous sandy-loam soil

The effects on different physico-chemical, chemical and biological soil properties of the incorporation of different organic materials into a calcareous vineyard soil were studied in an experiment during three growing seasons. The organic materials used were sheep manure and four composts derived from the treatment of winery and distillery wastes. A multivariate technique, factor analysis (FA), was also used for interpreting the data obtained from the samplings carried out throughout the three vine growing seasons. The application of the organic materials induced an increase in the activity of the soil microorganisms and in the soil macro and micronutrient contents, as well as a slow release of inorganic N. Through FA of the soil properties studied, three factors that explained 74.7% of the variability were established and the effects of the treatments after the whole experimental period were assessed.     

Effects of irrigation,fertilization and crop straw management on nitrous oxide and nitric oxide emissions from a wheat–maize rotation field in northern China

One-year winter wheat–summer maize rotation is the most popular double cropping system in north-central China, and this highly productive system is an important source of nitrous oxide (N₂O) and nitric oxide (NO) emissions due to the high fertilizer N and irrigation water inputs. To sustain the high crop production and mitigate the detrimental impacts of N₂O and NO emissions, improved management practices are extensively applied. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the effects of an improved management practice of irrigation, fertilization and crop straw on grain yield and N₂O and NO emissions for a wheat–maize rotation field in northern China. Using automated and manual chamber measuring systems, we monitored N₂O and NO fluxes for the conventional (CT, 2007–2008), improved (IT, 2007–2008), straw-amended (WS, 2008–2009), straw-not-amended (NS, 2008–2009), and no N-fertilizer treatments (WS–NN, 2008–2009), respectively, for one rotation-year. The grain yields were determined for CT and IT for three rotation-years (2005–2008) and for WS, NS and WS–NN for one rotation-year (2008–2009). The improved management of irrigation and fertilization reduced the annual N fertilization rate and irrigation amount by 17% and 30%, respectively; increased the maize yield by 7–14%; and significantly decreased the N₂O and NO emissions by 7% (p < 0.05) and 29% (p < 0.01), respectively. The incorporation of wheat straw increased the cumulative N₂O and NO emissions in the following maize season by 58% (p < 0.01) and 13%, respectively, whereas the effects of maize straw application were not remarkable. The N₂O and NO emission factors of applied N were 2.32 ± 2.32% and 0.42 ± 1.69% for wheat straw and 0.67 ± 0.23% and 0.54 ± 0.15% for chemical N-fertilizers, respectively. Compared to conventional management practices using high application rates of irrigation water and chemical N-fertilizer as well as the field burning of crop straw, the improved management strategy presented here has obvious environmentally positive effects on grain yield and mitigation of N₂O and NO emissions.     

Application of ICP-QMS for the determination of plutonium in environmental samples for safeguards purposes

Aiming to determine the plutonium amount as well as its isotopic composition, in particular, in swipe samples for safeguards purposes, an analytical method was developed with a plutonium separation step based on extraction chromatography using 2 cm TEVA columns and detection with quadrupole ICP-MS applying an ultra-sonic nebulizer coupled with membrane desolvation system. The method was successfully applied to New Brunswick plutonium certified reference materials as well as to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory round robin samples, based on the round robin samples provided by the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Belgium), as part of the Regular European Interlaboratory Measurement Evaluation Programme (REIMEP), campaign 16 (isotopic abundances of plutonium in plutonium nitrate samples), with a total plutonium amount between 1 and 0.25 ng per sample. After the introduction of an additional separation step, it was also possible to carry out precise and accurate total plutonium, (240)Pu/(239)Pu, (241)Pu/(239)Pu and (242)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratios determination in sediment sample showing its applicability to environmental samples in general, reaching a detection limit equivalent to 5 mBq(239)Pu kg(-1).